You don't have to ask
by MysticJaden
Summary: Zuko and Toph find themselves after the war. Nothing more, nothing less. No lemon.


I saw her. I didn't even have to look, but there she was.

Amongst the injured and beaten, the blind one was the only one standing.

The Fire Lord dead, I could feel the World's rugged breath becoming easier. Like a living being, like a large animal with a spike in its fur.

Maybe that is why I liked her so much. Ozai and me, Toph and Aang, no matter who or what you are, you are not bigger than a spike. A bug. Fire Lord or Avatar, it did not matter. And even the small, blind girl could become the most powerful Earthbender ever lived.

She was the exception. We were the rule.

And Spirits damn it, I loved her for it.

I knew I should not feel this way. I should love Mai. But how could I fill my heart with something towards an empty shell of a living being? How can you love something who doesn't love you back, yet she expects you to?

And Katara? I can never love her. She is too much like Azula. I don't mean the crazy lunatic part either. Maybe a little thought. Funny. The more I think about it the more I can see the resemblance. The power they hold over their elements, how much their souls burn. But they lack control. Something _she_ has.

Yes, her.

I could say it's blind love. I could say it's just a crush and would go away. But I would just lie.

She is so many things. So many things I wanted to be. Strong. Confident. Self-satisfied. _Happy_.

I don't look up but I feel her walking towards me. She didn't stop to talk to the injured, nor to help them. Her sightless eyes were set on me. I could say I was flattered. I finally looked up to see what's around me. Aang sitting on a rock, his head in his hands. He was crying. He finally stopped the tyrant and was ready to get on with his life. To reform his Nation and find his people.

Sokka lying on his back, his head in Suki's lap. They were talking silently with small smiles on their faces.

Katara, using Waterbending to help Ty Lee with a large gash on her side. They shared a secretive smirk.

Toph was finally standing right in front of me. I could say she was looking at me. Somehow I felt her Earthbending around me, how she concentrated at me.

"You okay Sparky?" she asked. Her voice was like honey to me. Addictive. I stared into her gaze, knowing she didn't see me. It just gave security to me. Some ground to stand on. That was something else I loved in her. No matter how much you knew her and for how long, you knew not what she will do or say. Like fire flicking all around, she filled me with passion. I wanted nothing more to hold her and kiss her. To feel her, to taste that flame she had inside of her.

Was I okay? No, definitely not. I was an addict. Not healthy, not healthy at all.

"Zuko?"

My heart exploded. Never in my life did I hear her voice say my name. She never called anyone by their name. And she did to me. She called me Zuko. Zuko. I never loved my name this much. Ever.

"Are you all right?" I felt concern in her voice. For me.

And I broke.

I grabbed her shoulders and crushed my lips to hers. She was shocked. Terrified even. I could feel it, it came off of her in waves. Then she closed her eyes and deepened the kiss, giving it the power and force she gave her Earthbending.

I felt special. I was on the same level as her bending.

I heard Aang's gasp behind me and Ty Lee's giggling and I could _feel_ Katara shaking her head. I didn't care. I had Toph in my arms and, for me, the World ended right there and then.

I did not care how old we were. That I was not supposed to love her. That I was not supposed to kiss her. She was short, I was tall, She was an Earthbender, I was a Firebender. Really, who cares?

I didn't. And she didn't.

I felt her arms crossing my neck, my hands on her hips. We sunk to the floor, and amongst the corpses and injured of the war we kissed for the first time. It was fitting.

None of us cared for romance, sunrises or sunsets, flowers or red wine. Our love was the fire of raw passion, a chain that bound us harder than any other could. We did not need experience. Memories. Shared time. Anything.

We need each other and that's that.

We stopped kissing and drew back a little. She had a wide and dreamy smile on her face, her blind eyes opened again.

"You are _definitely_ okay."

That I am. And that I'll ever be.

*

"My Lord, the Ambassador has arrived."

I didn't even look up to see Suki walk in. She was an epiphany of happiness. With a husband and twin daughters she was the dictionary rule of elation. Yet I could not smile. _She_ was not here.

Toph was with her parents. She decided to talk to them, make things right. Her idea. Not mine. She promised to be back after a week.

That was a month ago.

I was eaten with worry. I just wanted to jump on a war balloon and go to her. Yet, I could not. I had a country to rule. Bunch of ants and bugs. They were itching and biting all over my body, never letting me breathe. I felt myself being torn apart by the buzzards called Elders. Like a child I just wanted to break down and cry. To die.

Suki sat and looked at me expectantly. I just nodded, letting her begin her report. After the war I made her my right hand and chief spy. The title 'Ambassador' was just for show.

"I just don't know what happened to her." she said. "She was not in the mansion. I couldn't spot her anywhere."

Just as I thought. My Toph was not caged by walls alone.

I did what I wanted to do. I stood and walked out leaving her alone. I threw my Fire Lord robes to the floor. I was ready to throw away my duties. My title. The position I fought for. I was ready to destroy and leave behind everything. For her.

Let the buzzards get it! Let them have the whole Nation!

I wanted her.

*

My heart stopped. I saw her. The blind one who stood so tall yet was so short. The one who fought against all odds to be with me.

She was chained to the wall. It was all rock and metal. She was not bending. She couldn't.

The robes of Fire Nation royalty she wore when she left was hanging on her body like a blanket of dried blood. Her once shining ebony hair was dirty and gray. Her sightless eyes closed. Her breaths rugged and forced.

I felt nothing. No rage. No anger. Nothing. I felt my breaths slow down and became nonexistent. I gripped the cage she was behind of and smelled the smoke as it was melting in my palms.

"Hey! You there!"

That was the only thing I hear from the guard before his chest exploded, his blood erupting like a boiling fountain. I did not feel any pity as his body fell to the ground. I melted the lock and kicked in the door. I gathered her into my arms and left the mansion.

I did not look back when I left the grounds. I did not look back when the Bei Fong estate erupted in scarlet flames. I did not look back when I heard the screams of the sleeping waking up, their flesh burning. I did not care. I just hoped that the Spirit Realm had a deep, dark place for them.

*

She was sleeping in our bed, her broken body naked under the blankets. Naked. Before, that word got my blood boiling with passion. Now it filled me with anger.

Her skin was like parchment, her hair a mop of dirty gray filth. She was always coughing, her fever as high as the flames of her family's home's were.

She was dying.

"Zuko?"

Never have I heard such a melody. After days in the desert, the smallest bit of dirty water is like honey. After a month her cracking, sick voice was like a symphony.

I was at her side, stroking her cheeks. She smiled, her gray eyes searching but not finding me. I wanted to reassure her, to tell her she's safe. That I loved her.

But I couldn't. It was so much like a 'good bye'. So horribly much like a 'good bye'.

Instead I just kissed her sweating face. That was all she needed to smile again. And that was all I needed to smile.

She closed her eyes but I knew it was not for good. She would never leave me alone.

She tells me she loves me. She doesn't have to.

She tells me she won't die. She doesn't have to.

She tells me to kiss her. She doesn't have to.

She asks if I love her. She doesn't have to.

"I love you." I say.

She'll never have to ask. I'll always tell.

Like the fires I bend I know we have passion and love. The metal chain even her Bending can't break, the one thing that connects us for eternity.

She says she'll fell asleep. She asks me to sleep next to her. She doesn't have to.

I crawl into bed and hug her broken body. She'll be okay. She has to be.

She'll never leave me. She asks me not to either.

And she knows...

She doesn't have to.


End file.
